Course Syllabus - GIS for International Crises, Development and the Environment

New School for Public Engagement: International Affairs | Faculty: Stephen Metts | Email

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Lecture:

Lab:

Course Description:

Through weekly lectures, guided lab sessions, independent research, and a culminating final project, students will gain a working knowledge Geographic information Systems (GIS) and cartographic strategies increasingly vital to humanitarian relief, international development and climate challenges. As contemporary GIS software constitutes a predominant mapping platform across many disciplines and industries, students will gain a foothold in the practical application of this valuable software, as well as an understanding of how GIS relates to a myriad of global development issues. Further, students will develop proven skills in cartography, spatial data manipulation and analysis.

Lecture sessions will introduce students to the history, theory and capabilities of GIS in an international development and evironmental context; corresponding weekly lab sessions will guide students towards mastery of GIS skills. Each week students will work independently to complete technical assignments which draw upon spatial concepts introduced and detailed in a lecture setting. In the latter portion of the course, students will segue towards developing their own GIS project for a particular research topic in international development, humanitarian relief or environmental studies. Through the final project, students will demonstrate their mastery and integration of course concepts through the practical and technical application of GIS technology.

Course Themes:

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of the semester, successful students will:


Course Technical Text (not required for purchase):

Course Theory Text (required for purchase):

Course Case Studies & Cartographic Examples (not required for purchase):


Course Outline:

Class 1 | QGIS Installation and Orientation

Lecture:
  • Course Introduction and QGIS Orientation
Lab:
  • No Lab Week 1, Class 1
Assignment:
  • Installation and core interface components within QGIS.

Class 2 | Latitude & Longitude

Lecture:
  • Intro to Geospatial Tech, its history & framework
  • Geographic Coordinate System (GCS)
  • Latitude & Longitude
  • Spatial vs. Nonspatial data
  • Vector vs. Raster data models
Lab:
  • Developing & mapping Lat/Lon points - Geographic Coordinate System (GCS)
  • Working with .csv, .shp & geojson.io & .shp
Assignment:
  • Acquiring, cleaning and mapping data as Lat/Lon points features.

Class 3 | Cartographic Principles & Intro to Symbolization

Lecture:
  • Cartographic design & conventions
Lab:
  • Symbolization with QGIS
Assignment:
  • Mapping small scale vs. large scale - 2 Maps
  • Points features & symbolization strategies

Class 4 | Thematic Mapping

Lecture:
  • Thematic Mapping
  • Data types & sources
  • Vector, Raster, DEMs
  • Demographic Data & Maps
  • Choropleth mapping
Lab:
  • Displaying Data via Classification Schemes
  • Histograms
  • Spatial Joins
  • Selections by Attributes vs Selections by Location
  • Map outputs
  • Choropleth Mapping
Assignment:
  • Thematic maps for US Census Datasets

Class 5 | Introduction to the Raster Data

Lecture:
  • Introduction to Raster Data
Lab:
  • Raster data types, manipulation and output
Assignment:
  • Mapping with Raster data

Class 6 | Map Projections

Lecture:
  • Map projections
  • Coordinate systems
  • Geodetic datums
Lab:
  • Managing & transforming projections & coordinate systems in QGIS
Assignment:
  • Comparing map projections
  • Solving common map projection problems

Class 7 | Geoprocessing

Lecture:
  • Introduction to Geoprocessing
Lab:
  • Geoprocessing tools
  • feature proximity, overlay & extraction operations
  • classifying spatial data via spatial operations
Assignment:
  • Analysis Case Study- Kosovo landmines and unexploded ordnance

Class 8 | Mapping Vulnerability

Lecture:
  • Mapping vulnerability model
Lab:
  • Mapping and assessing risk & vulnerable populations - National Tornado Vulnerability
Assignment:
  • Covid-19 Global vulnerability risk mapping

Class 9 | Suitability Analysis

Lecture:
  • Multi-criteria suitability analysis
  • Site selection
Lab:
  • Mapping and assessing suitability
Assignment:
  • Suitability Model for GIS - Ugandan Civil War & IDP Camp Suitability

Class 10 | Participatory GIS

Lecture:
  • Participatory GIS
  • Volunteered geographic information- VGI
  • Collaborative, online mapping platforms
  • OpenStreetMap
Lab:
  • Collaborative web-based GIS tools
  • Feature editing in desktop & web-based environments
Assignment:
  • Developing VGI - Editing tools in OSM

Class 11 | Remote Sensing & Image Classification

Lecture:
  • Remote Sensing (RS) Technology and Raster Classification
Lab:
  • Displaying & manipulating multi-band rasters
  • Working with single-band, classified rasters
  • Land cover data
  • Categorical raster data manipulation
  • Introduction to global scale land cover products
Assignment:
  • Working with LandSat imagery
  • Classification techniques for RS imagery
  • Deforestation in Amazon Forest Cover, Brazil

Class 12 | Mapping Climatology Datasets

Lecture:
  • Climatology Data for Mapping
Lab:
  • Introduction to global scale climatology
  • Overview of multi-dimensional datasets
  • Creating of density surfaces (heat maps)
Assignment:
  • Mapping climatology | global temperature anomalies

Materials:

During each class session, reading materials, GIS files and your notes can be on your local computer; materials and course access will happen generally online via Zoom, Canvas and Slack. For moving GIS files and research materials back and forth, a USB drive is ideal. Further, online storage such as Box, Dropbox, Google Drive and Amazon Cloud Drive is encouraged. Course lecture topics, readings and in-class exercise data will be available in an online course management location (Canvas); however, each student will be required to organize and maintain their own GIS data files, especially pertaining to the final project. These files should be consistently backed up across multiple locations.


Course Policies:


Evaluation and Grading:

Course Component Percentage
Weekly GIS technical assignments 60%
Independent research, data development & project scope (Final Project) 5%
Final GIS project presentation (Final Project) 20%
Participation & weekly quizzes 15%
Total 100%

Grading Categories: